Bolo slide



J. H. MOSBY July 8, 1969 BOLO SLIDE Filed Jan. 15, 1968 INVENTOR James H. M osby By ATTORNEY United States Patent US. 'Cl. 24-49 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention provides a removable mounting for a gem stone or other ornament that is removably secured to a sliding carrier on a bolo tie, known as a bolo slide. A bolo tie is a thong type of necktie popular in Western United States as an item of dress. The improvement permits substituting dilferent gem stones or ornaments on a single bolo slide. Normally a bolo slide is more or less permanently associated with a bolo tie, and the present improvement permits use of multiple decorations on a single bolo tie or on only a few bolo ties. The removable ornament mounting may be secured to the bolo slide by magnets, or mechanical fasteners.

This invention relates to bolo slides, and in particular to a removable mounting for decorations that adorn bolo slides. The mounting may be magnetically or mechanically secured to the slide.

The bolo necktie is an item of Western dress and consists of a single length of thong draped around the neck of the user and terminates in parallel ends at the front of the throat or upper chest. These parallel ends are held together by a bolo slide that frictionally engages the thong ends so that the slide can be positioned at any point on the thong ends. The slide is usually decorated and the ornamentation may include medallions, carvings or ornamental gem stones.

Since bolo ties are a convenient means of displaying items of decorations, they are widely used by rock hounds, coin collectors, arrowhead collectors and others for displaying a variety of gem stones, rare coins, arrow heads, etc. If, however, the item of decoration is permanently secured to the bolo slide, a large number of slides are required to display various decorations of interest to the wearer. Furthermore, since bolo slides are more or less permanently afixed to a bolo tie, this requires a large number of bolo tie and slide combinations to display a corresponding number of decorations.

The present invention makes possible the use of a single bolo tie and slide combination for displaying a large number of decorations. A number of uniformly constructed mountings for decorations are provided for use with a single slide. The various gem stones, arrow heads, coins, etc., are secured to these mountings. Any

selected item of decoration may then be secured to a single slide.

It is therefore a general object of the invention to provide a bolo slide with decoration mounts that can be readily removed from the slide for displaying a number of decorations.

Various objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent in the following description and claims considered together with the accompanying drawings, forming an integral part of the disclosure, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a bolo slide embodying the invention shown as attached to a bolo tie.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along the line II-II of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the slide of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an exploded sectional view taken along the line IVIV of FIG. 1 but showing a modified form of removable mounting.

FIG. 5 is an end and a plan view of the nut securing the mechanism of FIG. 1 together and illustrated on an enlarged scale.

FIG. 6 is a sectional and a plan view of a modified form of nut for holding the mechanism together, shown on an enlarged scale.

Referring to FIGS. 1 through 3, a bolo necktie may consist of a single thong adapted to be draped about the neck of the user, and terminating in a pair of parallel thong ends 9. Frictionally mounted on these thong ends 9 is a bolo slide 8 constructed particularly in accordance with the invention. The body of the bolo slide is formed from a channel shaped member 10, having a longitudinal slot 11 in which is disposed a removable bar 12. Secured to the bar 12 is a mounting plate 13 to which any suitable decoration 14 may be secured, for example, by gluing or any other adhesion process. The particular decoration 14 illustrated is a polished gem stone. A decorative flange 15 may be secured to the body 10 to enhance the appearance of the decoration 14.

The slide body 10 is secured to the thongs 9 by a pair of grippers 16 in the shape of three-quarter cylinders disposed one on each side of the body 10 and having a generally circular cross section. These grippers 16 compressively engage the thong 9 to give a frictional engagement between the grippers 16 and the thongs 9. This permits the thongs to be moved relative to the slide to position the slide at any desired point along the thongs 9.

The removable bar 12 is secured to the body member 10, particularly in accordance with the invention, and as illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the fastening may be by means of a threaded bolt 17 projecting from the body member 12 and passing through a hole 18 in the bottom of the channel 10. The bolt 17 is engaged by a nut 19 to secure the bar 12 to the body member 10. The nut 19 is shown in more detail in FIG. 5.

Referring to FIG. 4, there is illustrated an alternate type of construction wherein the removable bar is held to the body member by means of magnetism. The body member 10 is formed of ferrous or magnetizable material and is magnetized to form a permanent magnet having opposite poles on each end, for example, south at the top of FIG. 4 and north at the bottom. A removable bar 12a is also formed of magnetizable material and is magnetized to form a permanent magnet having opposite poles formed thereon, for example, north at the top and south at the bottom. When the bar 12a is disposed in the slot of body member 10, the two magnets are juxtaposed and they will be rigidly held together by means of the opposite polarity of the magnets.

Illustrated in FIG. 6 is a modified form of nut for the device of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, wherein the nut has a very small axial-dimension on the bottom of the body member 10, and instead, obtains its threaded engagement by means of an internally threaded tubular body 21, which fits within the hole 18 of the body member. A thin flange portion 22 is connected to the tubular member 21. Such a nut gives a smoother contour on the bottom side of the body member 10, and hence, a smoother engagement with the users clothing or skin as the case may be. The nut of FIG. 6 also permits the use of a shorter, threaded bolt 17 on the removable bar 12.

A number of removable decoration mounts 1213 may be provided for a single slide body 10.. This permits a number of different decorations 14 to be mounted on a corresponding number of plates 13. In this manner the user can have a single bolo tie 9 and slide body 10 and yet display a large number of items of interest to him. In actual practice a user may have several bolo ties 9 and slide bodies 10, for use on dififerent occasions, and the use of removable decoration mounts also permits display of the same decoration on different bolo ties. This is important, inasmuch as a bolo slide is usually used only with one bolo tie, because the diameter of the thongs 9 vary from tie to tie, and the grippers 16 are deformed to fit one tie only.

In operation, the thongs 9 are installed inside of the curved trough-like grippers 16, and if necessary, an adjustment is made by deforming these grippers 16 to frictionally engage the thong ends 9.

The bolo slide 10 thereafter may be slid up and down the thongs 9 and will remain at any selected position. When the user desires to mount a particular decoration 14 on the bolo slide, he secures the same by glue or other adhesive or fastener to the mounting plate 13 on the bar 12 (or 12a as in FIG. 4). This assembly 011 decoration 14 plate 13 and bar 12 is then disposed into the body member 10 and is held therein by means of the nut, as in FIG. 2, or by means of magnetism, as shown in FIG. 4. When the user desires to substitute a different decoration 14, he merely unscrews the nut 19 and removes the decoration 14 the mounting plate 13 and bar 12. In the case of FIG. 4 a manual pull is exerted on the decoration 14 sufiicient to remove the bar 12a. The user then substitutes a different assembly of decoration 14, plate 13 and bar 12.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the decoration 14 may be secured directly to the bar 12. The use of high strength epoxy glues has made such attachments practical. Further, it will be recognized that the decorative flange 15 is not mechanically necessary, and if desired, other structures could close off the ends of channel 11. Various material of construction may be employed, and plastic or aluminum slide bodies may be used where weight is important. Magnetized bodies 10 may be used even with removable bars having mechanical fasteners, and indeed, magnetized bars 12a (FIG. 4) may also have bolts or other mechanical fasteners.

What is claimed is:

1. A bolo slide for use on a bolo tie having thongs, comprising:

(a) a body member having an elongated channel extending from an outer surface;

(b) laterally extending means on the body member for clampingly engaging the thongs of a bolo tie;

(c) a removable bar fitting within the channel;

(d) a decoration attached to the bar and being of suflicient dimension to overlie the bar and body so as to conceal the same from view;

(e) and means for removably securing the bar to the body member.

2. A bolo slide as set forth in claim 1 wherein element e is a mechanical fastener.

3. A bolo slide as set forth in claim 1 wherein element e is a magnetic fastener.

4. A bolo slide as set forth in claim 1 wherein the body member includes a permanent magnet and the removable bar is a permanent magnet whereby opposite poles of the bar and body member may be juxtapositioned to removably hold the bar to the body member.

5. A bolo slide as set forth in claim 1 wherein the body member is apertured at the bottom of the channel, and the bar has a threaded bolt adapted to project through the body aperture and nut means engage the bolt to removably hold the bar to the body member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 403,112 5/1889 Kaifeman 63--29 2,176,727 10/1939 Simmons. 2,146,047 2/1939 Bangs. 2,615,227 10/1952 Hornik 24201.2 XR 2,735,105 2/1956 Traub 2-150 2,752,764 7/1956 Lederer 24-201.2 XR 2,896,217 7/1959 Cedarstatf 24-49 XR 2,983,975 5/1961 Hubbell.

FOREIGN PATENTS 103,277 2/ 1924 Switzerland.

DONALD A. GRIFFIN, Primary Examiner. 

